Search Tips

Website Availability

The online Sexual or Violent Offender Registry is generally available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except for occasional system maintenance, which is usually noted in advance on the Disclaimer and Notices page. The Registry's search and reports functions are unavailable for approximately 20 minutes at 4:00 a.m. (Mountain Time) Tuesday through Saturday while the database is updated.

Because the Registry is dynamic in nature, you should check the site routinely to ensure that you have the most accurate information available. Printing or saving information from the Registry could result in using outdated information.

Additional Addresses

Beginning May 2007, offenders who reside at multiple addresses are required to register their primary residence and any additional addresses. The same offender may therefore appear in the search results for different cities, counties or zip codes. An offender may be only an occasional resident at additional addresses listed in the Registry.

Required Fields

Search information must be entered in at least one of these fields: County, City, Zip Code or Last Name. Any combination of these fields may be used, but not all fields are required. In some cases, a general search using fewer fields may result in more complete results than a narrow search.

Hints for Selected Fields

Last Name Field

This field returns a list of all registered offenders whose last name or "also known as" last name exactly matches the characters entered, regardless of first name.

Note: Last Name is an optional field provided County, City and/or Zip Code is entered.

Last Name Wildcard Searches – The percent sign (%) may be used as a wildcard character in the Last Name field to represent one or more other characters. For example, searching for "sm%" would yield all registered offenders with a last name beginning with "sm", such as Smith, Smithson and Smythe. The wildcard character may be useful when you do not know the exact spelling of a name.

Note: Wildcard searches are only allowed on the Last Name field.

Offender Type Field

This field allows you to further refine your search by choosing which type of offenders you want to view. For example, you may want to search for registered violent offenders in Cascade County. You would enter "Cascade" in the County field and choose "Registered as a Violent Offender" for the Offender Type field.

The default, "All Types," searches for registrants regardless of offender type.

Note: County, City, Zip Code and/or Last Name must also be entered when using the Offender Type field.

City Field

More than one city may be associated with addresses in the same general location. For instance, both East Missoula and Missoula may be used for addresses with a 59802 zip code. However, offenders are listed in the search results only under each city they provided when they registered their primary and any additional addresses.

Zip Code Field

More than one zip code may be used for addresses in the same general location. For instance, some offenders in Missoula are registered under a 59801 zip code while others use 59802. However, offenders are listed in the search results only under each zip code they provided when they registered their primary and any additional addresses.

Although you can enter a Zip Code in an expanded ZIP+4 format, the search results will include registered offenders with an address containing the five-digit zip code. For example, searching by the zip code "59601-4617" will include offenders with an address that contains "59601."